Mariah Carey: A Retrospective

Mariah Carey A Retrospective

Overview: Pop singer born 3/27/1970 in Huntington, Long Island, NY. Irish-American and Black-Venezuelan parentage. Referred to as the "Songbird Supreme" by the Guinness World Records, the 1990 Best New Artist Grammy winner is known for her five-octave vocal range. She is the only artist to have her first five singles top the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart and is second only to the Beatles with 19 total chart-toppers. Her songs "One Sweet Day " (1995) and "We Belong Together" (2005) rank in the top 10 biggest #1 songs in the history of the Billboard charts. Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Mariah Carey Top 40 Songs MariahCarey.com (official site) Facebook Wikipedia

Awards:

Studio Albums:

Compilations: NO #1’s (covers 1990-98, released 1998) Under each album snapshot, songs featured on the anthologies are noted. If the song charted, the date of the song’s release or first chart appearance and its chart peaks are noted in parentheses. Click for codes to charts.

Top 40 Songs These are the top Mariah Carey songs as ranked by the DMDB. The codes beside the songs indicate which of the above albums the songs appear on. In addition, you can scroll farther down the page to see a snapshot of the individual albums with the singles from each indicated. The songs are again followed by the codes, but also for those songs that charted, the date of the song’s release or first chart appearance and its chart peaks are noted in parentheses. 1. We Belong Together (2005) 2. One Sweet Day (with Boyz II Men, 1995) 3. Vision of Love (1990) 4. Fantasy (1995) 5. Hero (1993) 6. Dreamlover (1993) 7. Without You (1993) 8. Always Be My Baby (1995) 9. Love Takes Time (1990) 10. Someday (1990) 11. Emotions (1991) 12. I’ll Be There (live, 1992) 13. When You Believe (with Whitney Houston, 1998) 14. Anytime You Need a Friend (1994) 15. Make It Happen (1991) 16. I Don’t Wanna Cry (1990) 17. Can’t Let Go (1991) 18. Touch My Body (2008) 19. My All (1998) 20. All I Want for Christmas Is You (1994) 21. I Still Believe (1999) 22. Endless Love (with Luther Vandross, (1994) 23. Honey (1997) 24. Shake It Off (2005) 25. Heartbreaker (with Jay-Z, 1999) 26. Don’t Forget about Us (2005) 27. Thank God I Found You (with Joe & 98 Degrees, 1999) 28. Butterfly (1997) 29. It’s Like That (with Fatman Scoop, 2005) 30. Loverboy (with Cameo, 2001) 31. I Know What You Want (with Busta Rhymes & the Flipmode Squad, 2003) 32. I Want to Know What Love Is (2009) 33. Breakdown (with Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, 1997) 34. Obsessed (2009) 35. Through the Rain (2002) 36. Forever (1995) 37. Bye Bye (2008) 38. Crybaby (with Snoop Dogg, 1999) 39. U Make Me Wanna (with Jadakiss, 2004) 40. Never Too Far (2001)

Mariah Carey (1990): Vision of Love (6/2/90, 1 BB, 1 BA, 1 CB, 1 GR, 1 RR, 1 AC, 1 RB, 9 UK, 1 CN, 9 AU, 4 DF, sales: 1.2 million, airplay: 2 million) NO Love Takes Time (9/14/90, 1 BB, 1 BA, 1 CB, 1 GR, 1 RR, 1 AC, 1 RB, 37 UK, 2 CN, 14 AU, 25 DF, sales: ½ million, airplay: 2 million) NO Someday (1/11/91, 1 BB, 1 BA, 1 CB, 1 GR, 1 RR, 5 AC, 3 RB, 38 UK, 1 CN, 44 AU, 21 DF, ½ million, airplay: 1 million) NO I Don’t Wanna Cry (4/5/91, 1 BB, 1 CB, 1 GR, 1 RR, 1 AC, 2 RB, 54 UK, 2 CN, 49 AU, 33 DF, airplay: 1 million) NO

About the Album: Read more on the DMDB page for this album.

Emotions (1991): Emotions (8/13/91, 1 BB, 1 BA, 1 CB, 1 GR, 1 RR, 3 AC, 1 RB, 17 UK, 1 CN, 11 AU, 24 DF, sales: ½ million, airplay: 1 million) NO

About the Album: Read more on the DMDB page for this album.

Music Box (1993): Dreamlover (7/27/93, 1 BB, 1 BA, 1 CB, 1 GR, 1 RR, 2 AC, 2 RB, 9 UK, 1 CN, 7 AU, 21 DF, sales: 1.5 million, airplay: 2 million) NO Hero (10/15/93, 1 BB, 1 BA, 2 CB, 1 GR, 1 RR, 2 AC, 5 RB, 7 UK, 3 CN, 7 AU, 7 DF, sales: 3 million, airplay: 2 million) NO

About the Album: Read more on the DMDB page for this album.

Daydream (1995): Fantasy (9/8/95, 1 BB, 1 BA, 1 CB, 1 GR, 1 RR, 8 AC, 1 RB, 4 UK, 1 CN, 1 AU, 20 DF, sales: 3.5 million, airplay: 1 million) NO One Sweet Day (with Boyz II Men) (11/3/95, 1 BB, 1 BA, 1 CB, 1 GR, 1 RR, 1 AC, 1 A40, 2 RB, 6 UK, 1 CN, 2 AU, 6 DF, sales: 3.75 million, airplay: 1 million) NO Always Be My Baby (2/23/96, 1 BB, 1 CB, 1 GR, 1 RR, 2 AC, 2 A40, 1 RB, 3 UK, 1 CN, 17 AU, 34 DF, sales: 5 million, airplay: 1 million) NO

About the Album: Read more on the DMDB page for this album.

Butterfly (1997): Honey (8/8/97, 1 BB, 6 GR, 10 RR, 3 UK, 1 CN, 8 AU, sales: 2 million) NO My All (4/3/98, 1 BB, 12 GR, 15 RR, 18 AC, 4 RB, 4 UK, 28 CN, 39 AU, sales: 2 million) NO Whenever You Call (with Brian McKnight) NO

About the Album: Read more on the DMDB page for this album.

#1’s Mariah Carey

Recorded: 1990-1998 Released: November 16, 1998 Peak: 4 US, 10 UK, 6 CN, 6 AU Sales (in millions): 6.0 US, 0.77 UK, 20.0 world (includes US and UK) Genre: pop Rating: 4.373 out of 5.00 (average of 19 ratings)

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

Tracks: (1) Sweetheart (with Jermaine Dupri) (2) When You Believe (with Whitney Houston) (3) Whenever You Call (with Brian McKnight) (4) My All (5) Honey (6) Always Be My Baby (7) One Sweet Day (with Boyz II Men) (8) Fantasy (9) Hero (10) Dreamlover (11) I’ll Be There (live with Trey Lorenz) (12) Emotions (13) I Don’t Wanna Cry (14) Someday (15) Love Takes Time (16) Vision of Love (17) I Still Believe Tracks Not on Previously Noted Albums: I’ll Be There (live with Trey Lorenz) (5/15/92, 1 BB, 1 BA, 1 CB, 1 GR, 1 RR, 1 AC, 11 RB, 2 UK, 1 CN, 9 AU, 8 DF, sales: 0.9 million) NO Sweetheart (9/19/98, 45a RB) NO When You Believe (11/2/98, 15 BB, 28 RR, 3 AC, 37 A40, 33 RB, 4 UK, 20 CN, 13 AU, 31 DF, sales: 1.4 million) NO I Still Believe (1/22/99, 4 BB, 19 RR, 8 AC, 3 RB, 16 UK, 9 CN, 54 AU, 32 DF, sales: 1 million) NO About the Album: Apparently, Mariah Carey doesn’t understand the term ‘greatest hits,’ witnessed by her claim “in the liner notes that #1’s is ‘not a greatest hits album! It’s too soon, I haven’t been recording long enough for that!’” AMG Huh? “Between 1990’s Vision of Love and 1998’s My All, all but four commercially released singles (‘Anytime You Need a Friend,’ ‘Can't Let Go,’ ‘Make It Happen,’ ‘Without You’) hit number one, with only a handful of radio-only singles (‘Butterfly,’ ‘Breakdown’) making the airwaves, not the charts. That leaves 12 big hits on #1’s, all number ones.” AMG That seems as close to the definition of ‘greatest hits’ as one can get. “Since Carey’s singles always dominated her albums, it comes as no surprise that #1’s is her best, most consistent album, filled with songs that represent state-of-the-art ‘90s adult contemporary and pop-oriented urban soul.” AMG “That said, it isn’t a perfect overview – a couple of good singles are missing because of the self-imposed ‘#1 rule’; plus, the Ol’ Dirty Bastard mix of Fantasy is strong, but fans familiar with the radio single will be disappointed that the chorus is completely missing on this version.” AMG “The album is also padded with a personal favorite (her Brian McKnight duet Whenever You Call, taken from Butterfly) and three new songs – the Jermaine Dupri-produced Sweetheart, the Whitney Houston duet When You Believe (taken from The Prince of Egypt soundtrack), and I Still Believe, a remake of a Brenda K. Starr tune – which are all fine, but not particularly memorable.” AMG “Still, that’s hardly enough to bring down a thoroughly entertaining compilation that will stand as her best record until the ‘official’ hits collection is released.” AMG

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Mariah Carey Dave’s Music Database: Acts’ Profile Pages and Best-of Lists AMG All Music Guide review of #1’s by Stephen Thomas Erlewine Wikipedia page for #1’s First posted 3/26/2008; last updated 5/13/2024.

Mariah Carey “Dreamlover” hit #1 for first of 8 weeks

Dreamlover Mariah Carey

Writer(s): Mariah Carey, Dave Hall (see lyrics here) Released: July 27, 1993 First Charted: July 30, 1993 Peak: 18 US, 14 CB, 17 GR, 19 RR, 2 AC, 2 RB, 9 UK, 16 CN, 7 AU, 24 DF (Click for codes to charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.15 UK, 1.575 world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 2.0 radio, 47.82 video, -- streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: Mariah Carey burst onto the scene in 1990 with her self-titled debut album. It made her a superstar, peaking at #1 for 11 weeks on the Billboard album chart and selling over 15 million copies sold worldwide, fueled by her first four singles topping the Billboard Hot 100. Her second album, Emotions, experimented with house music and more R&B. It peaked at #4 and only sold about half what its predecessor did, but generated three more top-5 hits, including the #1 title cut. Then Mariah married Columbia’s label chief, Tommy Mottola. He now saw her as “an investment to be protected” SG and the label wanted a full-on pop album with Carey marketed as “an old school balladeer,” SG more like the first album. The result was Music Box, which found her back atop the Billboard album chart with worldwide sales of 28 million, making it not only her most successful album, but one of the best of all time. While the album “is absolutely choked with puffy, grandiose ballads” SG the lead single, “Dreamlover,” was an exception. Unlike Mariah’s previous chart-toppers, this one wasn’t built specifically to showcase her voice. SG It “is, quite simply, a jam.” SG It “is an effortless floater. It drifts along, euphoric and frictionless, radiating joy in every direction.” SG The song “evokes classic pop without sounding like a savish attempt to recreate classic pop sounds.” SG It “seems to exist out of time.” SG Mariah co-wrote and co-produced the song with Dave “Jam” Hall, a producer who had worked with Brand Nubian, Heavy D, and Mary J. Blige. They listened to loops from old records, building “Dreamlover” on a groove sample from the Emotions’ 1971 song “Blind Alley.” She’d previously used the groove from the group’s “Best of My Love,” a #1 song from 1977, for her song “Emotions.” The song also samples Tom Tom Club’s “Genius of Love.” The group was formed by Talking Heads’ members Tina Weymouth and her husband Chris Frantz. Their 1982 hit has been sample dozens of times but this is their favorite. Weymouth said, “I think it reminds her of a happy time in her life, and what she’s done with it is very sweet.” TB Resources: DJ David Jasen (2002). A Century of American Popular Music: 2000 Best-Loved and Remembered Songs (1899-1999). Routledge: Taylor & Francis, Inc. SG Stereogum (2/14/2022). “The Number Ones” by Tom Breihan TB Thunder Bay Press (2006). Singles: Six Decades of Hot Hits & Classic Cuts. Outline Press Ltd.: San Diego, CA. Page 261. WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 4/10/2023.